The other night I watched a YouTube video called "Blogging Mistakes for Beginners to AVOID | Common Blogging Mistakes | By Sophia Lee" and it got me thinking about what things in my 6 years of blogging have I gotten wrong and how you could avoid making the same.
• Not looking at other hosting sites | When I started my blog back in 2015 I didn't do any research about hosting sites or anything I just found WordPress and just went with them. At the time WordPress and Blogger were the 2 most popular hosting sites at the time. WordPress was great and all but whenever I did anything to my blog I always felt like something was missing and I didn't feel like I had full control of my blog.
Last year someone said to me why don't you try out Wix you'll have full control and you make your blog how you want and you'll be in control. After having a look at Wix and making Jack Deyes on there I felt my passion for blogging again and I feel like I have full control of my blog and the plans are better priced as well.
This is why to anyone who is thinking about starting blogging I'd recommend you have a look at other hosting sites and do your research.
• Running my first blog off my old phone | Now that I think about it I can't fully understand why I thought running my blog off my phone was a good idea. Yes okay, there was an app but with an app to run your blog from you're very limited to what you can and can't do.
I then saved up for a MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017) and it made running my blog so much easier and now I can see why so many bloggers have laptops.
• Using Stock Photos | When I started blogging my blog was filled with stock photos it was okay at first until most of my blog posts just has millions of them. If possible try not to use so many stock photos and use your own.
• Understanding (SEO) | It wasn't until I moved to host sites that I ended up learning and understanding what SEO is and how it works.
Before I moved to host sites I didn't fully understand what SEO was I now know it involves stuff like traffic, website pages and so forth and it's not something you need to be spot on about but I think it's defiantly worth something to research about.
• Not Having My Own Space | When I started blogging I'd normally just go into the back room of my hour and type up a load of blog posts now at the time that was okay but then I'd watch YouTube videos or read blog posts I'd noticed that they'd all have an office or a desk at home and they'd use it as there place to go and smash a load of blogging stuff. It wasn't until 5-6 years after blogging that I kinda got it to why some bloggers did that.
This isn't me saying go out and rent an office space or order s desk but I think it's best for you to find your own little place so you're alone and have the thinking space...hopeful that all made sense haha.
• Having Too Much On My Blog | To me when it comes to any kind of website or blog the last thing you want is it to be filled with loads of widgets, ads, buttons and other stuff. When I first started blogging it was filled with loads of widgets and it ended up making my blog slow and non-mobile friendly.
When I moved my blog over I had this one rule and that was not to add so much to my blog and to keep it clean, tidy and easy to use. Now to me, that is what my blog is.
• Feeling Like I Had To Be On It 24/7 | When I started blogging I"d spend the majority of my day on my blog doing loads of blog posts, moving everything around and so on.
Down to that, I ended up making blogging feel less of a hobby and more like a thing I had to do all day and all night. After taking some time away from my blog I finally found my love for blogging again and I continue to put loads of work into my blog just like many other amazing bloggers do but just not all the time if you get what I mean.
I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post and I hope this blog post can help some of you avoid some of the blogging mistakes I've made. Sorry, this photo didn't have many photos...
